


Roswell, New Mexico Week 2019

by jumbled-nonsense (notsodarling)



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Hints of Guerenti, Introspection, M/M, Post-Finale Future Fic, Roswell New Mexico Week 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 04:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notsodarling/pseuds/jumbled-nonsense
Summary: Collection of my prompt fills for Roswell New Mexico Week 2019.





	1. Day One: When We Were Young

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this little teaser for the post-finale amnesia fic I’m currently working on.

“This is kinda awkward.”

“You didn’t have to agree to come with,” Isobel replies as Rosa stares out the passenger window, watching the desert move past.

“I’ve been stuck in Max Evans’ house for three days. I needed a break from Liz.”

Isobel hums, as if agreeing, and Rosa wonders what she’s missing there. Her brief talk with Guerin had been interesting, to say the least, and Rosa has already made a mental note to catch up with Alex as soon as she gets the chance.

“Where are we going, anyway?”

“Rule-breaking,” the reply comes, and Rosa lets out a laugh, leaning forward and turning on the radio, keeping the volume low, but eliminating the dead silence of the car. “There’s one person left who doesn’t know about aliens, and who better to tell her than-”

Isobel cuts herself off, and Rosa lets it slide. It feels like she’s missing something, something that perhaps happened during the past ten years. But Rosa has been furious since finding out Maria was still in the dark - Liz was her best friend, why was Maria not a priority? What had happened when Liz got back that telling Maria wasn’t deemed important enough? Pestering Liz has led nowhere, and Rosa hadn’t known Guerin outside of finding out-

“I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you when we were kids,” Isobel says, breaking off Rosa’s train of thought.

There’s been so much information Rosa has been filled in on over the last couple days, that she’s still trying to process all of it. But if Isobel Evans wants to discuss high school, Rosa can do that. Though she can’t imagine what it’s been like to try and separate your own real memories from those of the alien serial killer inhabiting your brain.

“You were the Regina George of New Roswell High,” Rosa smirks.

“I was horrible, wasn’t I?”

Rosa laughs, and it takes a minute but she watches as a smile breaks out on Isobel Evans face, and maybe, maybe this isn’t going to be quite as bad as she thought.

“What about - what about everything else?” Isobel asks, but doesn’t elaborate. She doesn’t need to, because Rosa knows exactly what she’s referring to.

“Covering up a murder? Making my dad and Liz a target for the racist assholes of this town? I’m furious! You have no idea how angry I was - I am - when Liz told me about that.” Rosa takes a deep breath to calm herself down. It’s not going to do her any good to lash out at Isobel Evans when they’re on their way to the Wild Pony. “But she also told me how you were being manipulated and controlled.”

And that’s the part Rosa has been focused on. She wishes it wasn’t the case, it’d be so much easier to hate Isobel Evans then, as someone who just manipulated her and lied to her and made her believe they were friends. It would be so much simpler if everything was black and white.

“I still have trouble separating his memories and my own. They’re all just, jumbled together. And if we can figure out what happened to Michael maybe-” Isobel pauses. “If it’s another ability of ours, I want to know how to use it.”

The blatant talk by Isobel about how she’s not human is still jarring to hear, and Rosa isn’t sure she’s ever going to be fully used to knowing that her sister is in love with an alien.

Or well, at the moment, a _dead_ alien.

“I’m sorry I was so terrible to you,” Isobel finally says, speaking up after a moment. “I was so worried about keeping up this perfect persona of what I thought I should be, I ended up just treating everyone who wasn’t Max or Michael like dirt.”

“You’re not forgiven,” Rosa replies. “Not yet, at least.”

Isobel turns into the parking lot of the Wild Pony.

“This is a good start.”


	2. Day Two: Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Collection of my prompt fills for Roswell New Mexico Week 2019.

Maria hates the assisted care facility.

For ten years, Maria has watched her mother disappear bit by bit, piece by piece, her mind and memory fragmenting into something unrecognizable. Maria can handle reminding her of where she is, or who she’s talking to - until that day her mom stops recognizing her. That day her mom’s mind got stuck in 1997, and she never fully came back. Even after months of references to Independence Day, her mom never fully disappeared from her, always snapping back, looking at Maria and knowing.

The day her mom didn’t recognize her was the hardest so far.

Growing up, it had always just been her and Mimi against the world - or at least, the town of Roswell. Her mom had taught her, almost from infancy, to always love and believe in herself above all else, and Maria’s not sure what her life would be like without that unwavering guidance and support. And in addition to the unconditional love she always had from her mom, there was the chosen family she’d picked up along the way - Liz, Rosa, and Alex - their own little band of misfits. Two daughters of undocumented immigrants, the gay son of an Air Force Master Sergeant, and the black girl who’s mom owned the locals bar. It was a combination of the family you’re born to, and the family you find, and Maria wouldn’t change it for anything.

But even knowing she has support now, she finds herself holding back, desperate to not be a burden. Ten years of being on her own - Liz gone in the grief of Rosa’s death, and Alex seemingly giving in to his father’s desire for him to follow in his brother’s footsteps, Maria has learned how to stand up on her own, to make it appear as if she doesn’t need anyone else.

It’s a lie she tells herself, and she knows even Liz and Alex have fallen for it.

She’d dated the Chad because he showed up, he was there for her - but it never quite felt right. There had always been something missing, and for too long, Maria had tried to tell herself she was being picky, she wasn’t giving him a chance. And so, she dated him longer than she should have, changing her relationship status on Facebook and everything - until one day she woke up and knew, she couldn’t do it anymore. 

The endless consultations and doctor visits and rejected diagnosis has worn on her. Each new visit declaring Mimi is faking her memory loss, and Maria has no idea what to do, where to go next. She gets stuck in a holding pattern, tending to the bar and taking care of her mom, refusing to let either of them go as long as she can help it.

Maria tries to enjoy the day out that Liz plans for her mom, tries not to let it get to her too much when her mom calls Liz “Rosa” and Liz plays along. She tries to not disappear to find a secluded place where she can just scream out her anger and frustrations with no one around to hear. 

She jokes with Alex one day about her mom not recognizing her, because she doesn’t know how else to cope with this huge loss, doesn’t want to admit how watching her mom fade away feels like a part of her is disappearing too. Doesn’t want to burden him with her problems - even though she knows how much Alex loves Mimi, and how important she is to him. Maria holds it back, holds it in, and decides to deal on her own.

Family has always meant her and her mom. And Maria doesn’t know what she’s going to do on that day her mom doesn’t know her anymore.

Maria goes to the assisted care facility to visit her mom, tries not to show how turned off she is by the harsh fluorescent lights and the smell of mothballs and bleach. Tries to put on a brave face for her mom, to assure her everything is okay, everything is fine. But she knows, the moment she’s back out in the safety of her truck, or the quiet of home, the floodgates will open.

Because Maria knows she’s putting on a brave face now, but losing her mother, the most important person in the world to her, is going to destroy her in the process. But she also knows that when that day comes, she’ll have other family to help her pick up the shattered pieces.


	3. Day Three: Quick & Dirty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Collection of my prompt fills for Roswell New Mexico Week 2019.

There were lots of places in Roswell that worked on cars, several were just basic chain stores and Kyle knew better than to ever trust them, mostly because he’d heard some horror stories from people around town about things that had gone wrong afterwards. And then there were the smaller garages and salvage yards, owned by locals who’d lived in Roswell for generations. They had better reputations, and ended up servicing the vehicles for most of the townfolk, word of mouth working better for them than any paid advertisement ever could. **  
**

And finally, there was Sanders.

Depending on who you talked to, the quality of the review would change, but never the praise for the work itself. Especially, Kyle noted, if it had been done by Michael Guerin.

So when one of his co-workers came into work one day, raving about the _kind young man_ who fixed a distinct rattle emanating from the rear of his vehicle, Kyle decided to see exactly what kinda charm Michael Guerin had on people. Because the two of them had never been friends, they’d never really even been friendly - in high school Kyle had been too busy with sports and his own popularity to pay much attention to Guerin, but he did know that Guerin was _smart_ \- he’d listened to enough praise from Liz during high school to know that.

So it has been a surprise to see that Guerin had long ago formed opinions about him, and held onto them over the past ten years. Guerin had sighed with a distinct annoyance, _“this guy,”_ when he found out Kyle was helping with Isobel. He’d made no attempt to hide his contempt that morning Kyle had shown up at the junkyard for the roadtrip to Caulfield. And Kyle had understood that the only reason Michael Guerin had ever put up with him had been out of necessity - when he’d been helping treat Isobel, or when Alex had asked for his help.

It had taken Kyle longer than it should have to realize Alex was part of the reason for Guerin’s disdain toward him. 

When Kyle pulled into the junkyard, he noted that there was already someone there, and Guerin was already working on a car - a shiny red convertible. The owner was sitting in one of the lawn chairs in front of the airstream, her eyes trained on Guerin. Guerin, who was wearing a white t-shirt that Kyle could only assume was covered in grease and oil stains, and a pair of jeans slung low on his hips.

“What’s up, Valenti?” Guerin called out, not picking his head up from where he was working.

“Just need an oil change.”

“Okay well, I’m just finishing up - Mrs. Palmer needed a new serpentine belt.”

“I got time,” Kyle replied, pushing up off where he was leaning against his SUV, and walking over to where Mrs. Palmer was sitting. Kyle noticed, she still hadn’t acknowledged his presence, her gaze still on Guerin. “Morning, Mrs. Palmer.”

“Morning Dr. Valenti! What brings you out this way?” Kyle noticed that only now that he’d addressed her, did she peel her eyes away from Guerin.

“I needed an-”

“You know, Michael Guerin here is quite the mechanic!” Kyle raised his eyebrows at the interruption, wondering if Guerin could hear this. “My husband said, don’t trust any of those big name chains, no, make sure you take the car to Sanders to get looked at.”

“Did he now?”

Mrs. Palmer smiled, picking up the iced coffee that Kyle hadn’t noticed was sitting near the foot of the chair she was occupying, taking a sip, her gaze moving back toward Guerin. Kyle glanced over just as Guerin was swiping at his brow with the back of his hand, and Kyle found himself wondering how much grease and oil ended up on Guerin’s skin after a day of working on cars.

“And,” Mrs. Palmer continued, leaning closer toward Kyle, her voice dropping low. “He’s not bad on the eyes either - just between you and me!”

Kyle bit his lip to keep from laughing. It was one thing to know how _Alex_ felt about Guerin, but this was something else entirely. He could see the appeal, though - there was something about the curls, about Guerin’s wide eyes and crooked smile, and his long gangly legs that yeah, Kyle understood.

Aesthetically only, Kyle reminded himself. Because there was no way, in this universe, that he found Michael Guerin _attractive_.

Kyle didn’t realize he’d tuned Mrs. Palmer out until she was waving good-bye to him, and sliding into the driver seat of her car, just a hint of disappointment evident on her face.

“Is that the only reason you get business?” 

Michael smiled, pulling his t-shirt over his head, and sauntering toward the Airstream, and Kyle pointedly _did not_ look at Guerin’s ass, watching as he disappeared inside for a moment before reappearing, a different shirt in hand.

“Mrs. Palmer is going to be so disappointed you waited until she left,” Kyle joked, but realized he didn’t actually mind, and watched as Guerin opened the nearby cooler and pulled out a beer.

He watched as Michael took a pull from the bottle, and dropped into one of the empty chairs.

“Don’t pretend you weren’t looking too, Valenti,” Michael said, and Kyle noted that _infuriating_ smirk was present on his face.

Kyle raised his eyebrows, because he most certainly _had not_. 

“So what’s wrong with your car?” Guerin asked, and it was then that Kyle noticed a smudge of grease across his forehead - most likely from one of the times Guerin had wiped sweat away, thanks to the unforgiving heat they’d been having lately.

“Nothing, just due for an oil change.”

Guerin rolled his eyes. “That’s it Valenti? Jeez, get comfortable, this won’t take long. There’s beer in the cooler.”

As Guerin started working, Kyle found himself watching and wondering yeah, okay, maybe he was looking at Guerin, belatedly noting that Guerin had never put the new shirt on.

But hey, Guerin was a good looking guy, so who was Kyle to complain about watching him work shirtless?


End file.
